Chest tube care, reimagined.
Nattoro is developing NumoSeal™, an external catheter securement accessory designed to secure a chest tube and seal the insertion site in a single device.
NumoSeal™ is currently under development. It has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not available for sale or commercial distribution.
Design prototype rendering
“We perform robotic heart and lung surgery through tiny incisions… yet we still manage chest tubes like it’s 1955.”
Verónica Toro, MD · CEO & Co-Founder, Cardiac Surgery Resident
A century-old method for one of medicine’s most common devices
Chest tubes are placed after heart and lung surgery, trauma, infection and cancer. Most are still secured with sutures, which can be painful, can let the tube dislodge, and make removal a procedure of its own.
chest tubes placed each year in the U.S., and more than 5 million worldwide
risk of preventable pneumothorax from accidental tube dislodgement
risk of pneumothorax at planned chest tube removal
An integrated approach to chest tube securement and site sealing
An integrated design
Designed to secure the chest tube and protect the insertion site in a single accessory.
Suture-free securement
A high-adhesion patch slides over the tube and locks it in place, designed to avoid suture-based securement.
Sealing by design
A proprietary sealing element is designed to close the insertion site automatically as the tube is withdrawn.
Built for the whole care team
Designed to support a standardized removal workflow that any trained member of the care team can follow.
The NumoSeal™ device is currently under development. It has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not available for sale or commercial distribution. Product images show design prototypes; final product appearance and specifications may differ.
Built with the clinicians who manage chest tubes every day
NumoSeal™ was conceived by a cardiac surgeon-in-training and engineered by an MIT-trained team. Its features respond to the main issues identified by more than 50 healthcare professionals who manage chest tubes daily at 10 different institutions.
- Placement: slides over the tube, adheres to the skin and is locked to the tube with two zip ties
- Dwell time: secures the tube and protects the insertion site
- Removal: designed to seal the site as the tube is withdrawn
Surgeons and engineers, solving overlooked problems
Nattoro builds simple, clinically driven solutions for overlooked problems in surgery and critical care. NumoSeal™ is just the beginning.
